SUMMARY: Most of us who have been using the AMD line of processors have long ago figured out that cooling is essential. But with the new interest in the Intel line mixed with the overclockability of the new Northwood processors, this idea is becoming a larger part of the Pentium Power System. Come join Asher "Acid" Moses as he takes a look at the Alpha PAL8942 HSF. It's time to see if the Alpha coolers can do for Intel what they have long done for AMD.
Over the past few years, overclocking has gone from being an insane past-time, only practiced by a handful of informed people, to an "art" that is the hobby of thousands of people all over the world. Whole websites and communities have been formed with their main goal being to teach people how to overclock their computers as well as to evaluate the latest cooling solutions on the market as they come out. People have gone to pretty crazy measures to ensure the cool running of their processor. These include water-cooling, vapor-phase cooling, and even liquid nitrogen cooling! However, these extreme cooling methods are not widely used yet. This is because, firstly, they are difficult to install, and secondly, they are often too expensive for the average user. For this reason, air-cooling is the most common cooling method used in computers at the moment.
Today we are taking a look at a new heatsink/fan unit from Alpha, the PAL8942. The PAL8942 was designed to support the Socket 478 Pentium 4 and uses a similar design to its highly successful Socket A counterpart, the PAL8045. Are Alpha's Socket478 heatsinks as high performing as their successful Socket A range? Read on to find out!
